Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would be worth the Minister's while meeting these parents so that they can describe to him the challenges their children face daily. As Deputy Burton has mentioned, 56 children are on a home tuition grant. Many of them have been excluded by our education system because it is not fit for purpose for them. I recognise there is a policy of inclusion in ASD units and some children thrive within those units. That is not the case for people with severe autism who are non-verbal and are not receiving the appropriate healthcare and educational interventions. Teachers cannot even cope with the difficulties in managing the children in that setting. We need to have a policy response. We are not doing that at present within the current policy construct that we have through the NCSE.

I ask the Minister to meet the parents to see what their proposal is. They want the best for their children. He mentioned the assessment of needs process. We know that takes years. Our whole community healthcare intervention is not appropriate. The parents want the proper mix to be delivered for children with very complex needs. We should not be expelling six year olds from classrooms in primary schools and leaving them on home tuition grants to linger without any opportunity or prospect in life. That is not the Department that the Minister wants to run. A meeting would open his eyes. It certainly opened mine on Monday to see the depth of this problem and the sheer numbers of children left at sea in our education system.

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